
Today's News Roundup
The Dow Jones and Nasdaq showed slight gains by 2:30 p.m. EDT. Zimbabwe's opposition party MDC is claiming victory in the presidential election.
Business & Finance
Shares of investment bank Lehman Brothers dropped 2.8 percent during after-market trading in New York yesterday to $36.30. The bank plans to raise $3 billion in capital to quell fears that it is volatile. According to Reuters, the price-per-share dropped because “it could result in more shares being issued.”
Source: Reuters
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has come out strongly against Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to revamp governmental oversight of the country’s financial boards, saying it would result in "an overly homogenized, less effective, and less competitive model" of supervision.
Source: Business Week
UBS chairman Marcel Ospel announced his resignation today, the same day the Swiss bank said that it anticipates first-quarter 2008 write-downs of about $18 million. Said Dirk Becker, an analyst at London’s Kepler Equities, "This is slightly higher than consensus expectations, though no great surprise as every one suspected there were multibillion dollar losses in the pipeline.”
Source: Forbes
National Hydrogen Association's technology director, Patrick Serfass, says in a video clip on TheStreet that hydrogen cells used as an eco-friendly hydrogen source may boost platinum sales, especially for use as fuel cells in automobiles.
Source: TheStreet
Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman wrote in a joint report that the banking sector “is facing the most severe investment banking crisis in 30 years. Global securities markets are in the midst of profound cyclical and structural change.”
Source: Bloomberg.com
Microsoft has no plans to up the $44.6 billion offer it made for Yahoo two months ago. Said an unnamed industry insider, "Why would Microsoft bid against themselves? The company sees no reason to bid against itself.”
Source: CNBC
Source: The Washington Post
Politics
Barack Obama said while campaigning in Pennsylvania that John McCain does not have a clear plan for Iraq, accusing him of “clinging to the policies of the past.”
Source: The New York Times (free registration may be required)
David Paul Kuhn of Politico writes that Hillary Clinton’s only hope of snaring the Democratic presidential nomination rests on whether or not she can sway the 25 delegates appointed to the 169-member Credentials Committee by DNC chair Howard Dean in her favor. Said a senior adviser to the candidate, "If the formal process of seating a delegation cannot be resolved, those 25 will be important."
Source: Politico
Source: Breitbart
National
Only about half of students in public schools in 17 of the 50 largest cities in America graduate, according to a report issued by America’s Promise Alliance, an association of non-profit groups and corporations. The national on-time graduation rate is about 70 percent.
Source: Chicago Tribune (free registration may be required)
Gregg Bergersen, a weapons analyst for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, pleaded guilty to giving classified information about U.S. and Taiwanese military relations to New Orleans-based businessman Kuo Tai, who passed on the data to Chinese spies. Bergersen faces up to 10 years in prison.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Source: The Wall Street Journal (registration required)
Source: International Herald Tribune
Source: USA Today
International
Source: The Economist
Results from Zimbabwe’s election on Saturday continue to trickle in. In the presidential race the main opposition group, Movement for Democratic Change, has 49 percent of the vote, according to officially published results. A 50 percent vote is necessary to avoid a run-off.
Source: The BBC
Ethnic Serbian police officers in Kosovo have felt pressure to quit since the country’s independence. Lt. Besim Hoti, a spokesperson for the Kosovo Police Service, says “There was a new reality that was created after Feb. 17 [that] brought about a new kind of tension.”
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Source: The BBC

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